Eui Working Papers

Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies International Relations Theory and European Integration Mark A. Pollack RSC No. 2000/55 EUI WORKING PAPERS EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission of the authors. © 2000 Mark Pollack Printed in Italy in November 2000 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50016 San Domenico (FI) Italy RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack ABSTRACT The explicit effort to theorize about the process of European integration began within the political science subfield of international relations, and the field of integration theory was, until recently, dominated largely by students of international relations. During the first few decades of the integration process, the literature was essentially divided between neofunctionalists (who theorized integration as a gradual and self-sustaining process) and intergovernmentalists (who emphasized the persistent gatekeeping role of national governments). Although originally intended as a general theory of economic and political integration, however, neofunctionalism and its intergovernmentalist critique were limited in practice to the analysis of the European case, and they had little impact on the larger study of international relations. With the relaunching of the integration process in the 1980s and 1990s, however, students of international relations have begun to approach the study of the European Union using more general, and generalizable, theoretical approaches. This paper examines the recent debate among realists, liberals, rational-choice institutionalists, and constructivists in IR theory as to the nature of the integration process and the EU as an international organization. Although originally posed as competing theories, I argue, realist, liberal and institutionalist approaches in IR show signs of convergence around a single rationalist model which assumes fixed preferences and rational behavior among all actors in the EU, and examines the ways in which member governments adopt institutions which subsequently constrain and channel their behavior. This rationalist approach is now the dominant approach to the study of European integration in international relations theory, I argue, with constructivism remaining as the primary rival, but less developed, approach to the study of European integration. RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack INTRODUCTION The explicit effort to theorize about the process of European integration began within the political science subfield of international relations, and the field of integration theory was, until recently, dominated largely by American students of international relations such as Ernst Haas, Leon Lindberg, and Stanley Hoffmann. During the first few decades of the integration process, the literature was essentially divided between neofunctionalists (who theorized integration as a gradual and self-sustaining process) and intergovernmentalists (who emphasized the persistent gatekeeping role of national governments). Although originally intended as a general theory of economic and political integration, however, neofunctionalism and its intergovernmentalist critique were limited in practice to the analysis of the European case, and they had little impact on the larger study of international relations.1 With the relaunching of the integration process in the 1980s and 1990s, however, students of international relations have begun to approach the study of the European Union using more general, and generalizable, theoretical approaches. The bulk of this paper therefore examines the recent debate among realists, liberals, rational-choice institutionalists, and constructivists in IR theory as to the nature of the integration process and the EU as an international organization. Although originally posed as competing theories, I argue, realist, liberal and institutionalist approaches in IR show signs of convergence around a single rationalist model which assumes fixed preferences and rational behavior among all actors in the EU (including individuals as well as member governments and supranational organizations) and examines the ways in which member governments adopt institutions which subsequently constrain and channel their behavior. This rationalist approach is now the dominant approach to the study of European integration in international relations theory, I argue, with constructivism remaining as the primary rival, but less developed, approach to the study of European integration. I. REALISM, LIBERALISM, AND RATIONAL CHOICE INSTITUTIONALISM: THE EMERGENCE OF A RATIONALIST RESEARCH PROGRAM Realist Approaches Realist theory, with its emphasis on material power and the resilience of the state, provided the theoretical underpinnings of the intergovernmentalist critiques of neofunctionalism in the 1960s and 1970s. With the exception of Hoffmann (1966, 1995), however, few realist scholars have made any significant effort to predict or explain the subsequent course of European RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack integration or the operation of the EU as an institution. Neorealist theorists have been even more explicit in their dismissal of international institutions such as the EU, which are generally considered to be epiphenomenal reflections of the underlying distribution of material power in the international system. Thus, for example, in his seminal statement of neorealist theory, Kenneth Waltz attributed the (uneven) progress of European integration to the fact that the United States had emerged after World War II as the guarantor of West European security, leaving the member states of the European Community free to pursue integration without concerns about security threats from their European partners.2 Similarly–and entirely consistent with the underlying assumptions of neorealist theory–John Mearsheimer predicted in 1991 that the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent return of a multipolar international system would lead to an increase in concerns about security and relative gains among EU member states, and place a significant check upon the future course of European integration (Mearsheimer 1990). In contradiction to Mearsheimer’s lucid and testable prediction, however, European integration has continued its uneven but impressive course throughout the 1990s, including the creation of a European Union and a single currency in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, and the subsequent deepening of integration in the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty which extended the use of qualified majority voting and the delegation of powers to supranational organizations. These developments presented a puzzle to neorealists, according to Joseph Grieco, the neorealist who has devoted to greatest intellectual attention to the study of the European Union. One neorealist response to the relaunching of European integration, according to Grieco, would be to posit the resurgence of the EU during the 1980s as European balancing against the emerging economic threat from the United States and Japan. However, as Grieco acknowledges, the timing of the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty also coincide with the end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, and the rise of concern about German economic hegemony among the other member states of the Union. In this view, the insistence upon economic and monetary union by France and Italy appear not as balancing behavior, but rather as bandwagoning with a potentially hegemonic Germany. Thus, as Grieco admits, From a neorealist perspective there is an acute need for an explanation for the decision by France and Italy to join with a potentially hegemonic partner–one that is closer geographically and one with which France in particular has had a difficult history– within the framework of an economic balancing coalition (Grieco 1996: 286). In response to this challenge, Grieco posits a “neorealist voice opportunities hypothesis,” which he argues is consistent with the core hypotheses of neorealist theory, and generates new insights into the “institutional rule trajectory” of the European Union.3 Specifically, Grieco draws on the earlier work of Albert 2 RSC 2000/55 © 2000 Mark A. Pollack Hirschman regarding the possibilities for “voice,” i.e. the expression of dissatisfaction with existing institutions. When negotiating new international institutions, Grieco argues, “states–and especially relatively weak but still necessary partners–will seek to ensure that any cooperative arrangement they construct will include effective voice opportunities,” which are defined in turn as “institutional characteristics whereby the views of partners (including relatively weaker partners) are not just expressed but reliably have a material impact on the operations of the collaborative arrangement” (Grieco 1986: 288- 89). Where such voice opportunities are absent, Grieco hypothesizes that states will attempt to renegotiate the terms of the institutional arrangement, and may reduce or withdraw their commitment to the organization if such attempts fail. In empirical terms, Grieco argues that the French and Italian entrepreneurship in favor of Economic and Monetary Union can be explained, not simply by the functionalist desire by all of the member states to commit credibly to their joint aim of monetary stability, but rather, or also, by their eagerness to secure a voice through their representatives on the new European Central Bank. More recently, Michael Mosser (2000)

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